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New Beginnings
I was alone again. Always alone. I have walked this world on my own for so long. I missed my brother and my friends but there was not time for that. I had some work to do. Soon, my life would change forever but it was not this day. I sat in my office, trying to perfect my craft. I didn't know why I tried to impress her, she obviously didn't care...she never really cared about me but I still tried. Maybe one day we would have a relationship, I hope, but not this day. Another craft fail. I threw it in the garbage. A knock at the door startled me. "Enter." "Excuse me, but your mother is wondering when the invitations will be sent out for the Panathenaea Festival, we must get the invitations ready and delivered." "Yes, I have created a first draft. I feel it fair that the winner would get a free semester at our craft school, would that be acceptable to you?" With a wave of her hand, a large pile of invitations appeared on the floor next to her desk. Hermes stood by the pile..." "Whoa! That is a lot of deliveries. You'll owe me," said Hermes jokingly, I hoped. "Yes, I know. Thank you Hermes. I really appreciate it." Hermes winked and disappeared with the pile of invitations. Alone again, trying to impress the Goddess of Wisdom and Strategy with crafts. This is my new life in Greco. My life used to be filled with adventure and danger now it was all paperwork and official duties. I was not meant for this...I was meant to be out there, in the world, making a difference, using my gifts. I stopped trying, I would never achieve greatness in crafts. Absently, I started working on a small statue. As I sat at my desk and looked at the stack of papers that needed my signature, I sighed and laid my bored head down on my desk. When I closed my eyes, I felt an odd tingle in my head. I remembered that feeling from my mortal days. I was getting a headache. I haven't had a headache in a long time. I closed my eyes. That is when the weirdest thing happened. I decided to go out for a walk and clear my mind. I was surprised to run into an acquaintance. Potatocis was in the middle of the square waiting. I walked up to him and said hi! "Mia? Can I ask you something? "Sure, what would you like to know?" "Why did you free Ps?" "I did no such thing." I never understood why he kept blaming me for freeing Ps. I did not even know Ps when he was mysteriously released from his cell in Potatocis' sword. "I can restore your memory. I want to know why you did it." Potatocis looked anguished, which was odd for the Emperor. He always looked confident and steady. I told him he could try to restore my memory but I was pretty sure it was intact and that he was mistaken. Sure enough, he was right. The tingling sensation increased as memories, ancient memories rolled through my mind. Memories of betrayal. These were my memories from my first meeting with Ps. I remembered everything, even the original plan and how I was counting on a son of Hermes to be my last resort. I remembered the secret meetings and planning session with my brother. I remembered wanting to let Ender know about Mark but him saying it was a bad idea. I remembered making Greek Fire and feigning allegiance with Ps. Even sacrificing cookies to Ps as a distraction. I also remember how important the timing was, the planning, how I had to loose the fight...the only way I could pass the Greek Fire and Physician's cure to Ender and finally freeing Ps. We were unsuccessful in our attempt to destroy Ps but we still had an ace in our hand. No one realised that I was feigning the allegiance with him so we could try again later. I explained all this to Potatocis, he deserved to know why. Ps was dead, I did not need to hold this secret anymore. We were naive to think that we could destroy Ps if Potatocis could not do so but we did not know of this Universe and Potatocis and Ps' powers. As most demigods, we were cocky and thought we could succeed where others had failed. After my explanation of my motives, the Emperor seemed both angry and disappointed. He was right, I know but it all ended well. Ps was gone now and the Republic was peaceful. We all got what we wanted. We had obviously made a mistake and underestimated Ps but a part of me felt that, if I hadn't gained his favour in the very beginning, then I probably would not have been able to play my cards right later on... Before Potatocis left with his answer to the question he had asked many times and I got scolded like a child, he asked me if I would mind if he created a portal on Greco. I didn't see why not so I told him to go ahead. I decided to just keep walking, my head hurt and I was annoyed that my memories had been altered. As I walked, I came upon a visitor. She seemed lost. Might as well introduce myself and find out how I could help. " Hello, welcome to Greco. I am Mia . You seem lost, can I help you with anything?" After we exchanged pleasantries, I found out her name was Aelin and that she did not come from the Republic. She came from a locked planet and she could not return home. I decided to showed her around a little then took her to the City center where we ran into Yasmine, who was also a daughter of Athena. She had come to Greco for the festival. I returned to my office. I had a lot of work to do to prepare for the festival and I had to reflect on the issue of the naiads disappearances. I will need to investigate. I let my assistant work on the festival while I snuck to the newly created portal and left for Brooklyn house. I didn't make there as Carter Kane and Felix were waiting for me on the other side of the portal. I guess we would have a training session the next time I came by. I was greeted by penguins waddling around. I had been visiting Brooklyn House fairly regularly trying to learn Egyptian magic. I learned a long time ago that sometimes, being yourself is dangerous and I had learned of the Egyptian magicians could create near perfect copies of people and that could be useful, plus, my thirst for knowledge was insatiable. This time, it was going to be a simple pick up, a refresher of divine words and a quick practice in storing and accessing magical items in the duat. It went well. I picked up my clay, the ribbons and practiced the activation words for the shatbis. I was good with storing things in the duat. I quickly returned to my world and returned to Greco. Rumours of a traveller, Yasmine, daughter of Athena, having a seizure in the city center came to me. Apparently, it lasted quite a while. She was with he other traveller I had met earlier and there appeared to be a creature that kept her company. The seizure did not concern me. It was possibly some sort of vision but the creature...there hadn't been any abnormal activity since the destruction of Ps. I needed to know more. There was also the issue of the missing naiads and the tainted waters. I needed to get to the bottom of these two mysteries. I decided to go to the city center to find out if I could talk to Yasmine. Instead of Yasmine, I found the traveller from a different planet that I had come upon during my previous walk. She was sitting alone at a table outside a Bistro. I decided to join her. "Hello Aelin, can I join you?" "Yes" "Are you enjoying Greco?" "Yes" "I heard about an incident here with Yasmine yesterday. I was told you were with her. Would you mind describing to me what happened exactly and that creature...what was it? Did it seem...dangerous?" Aelin described the events as follows: She was speaking to Yasmine having pizza for the first time when Yasmine fell to the ground and appeared to have a seizure. An insect like creature appeared and seemed to be comforting Yasmine because the seizure seemed to diminish, although she did not recover completely. " Thank you Aelin. " I realised I was going to be here for a while and I still needed to find out what exactly happened to Yasmine and the naiads. I tried to separate discreetly. I kept talking with Aelin as the naiad part of me left the conversation and headed for the tainted River. When I got there, the River felt dangerous, I was not sure I wanted to touch it but I needed to investigate, too many naiads had gone missing. For some unknown reason, Potatocis was still keeping tabs on me and he put up a shield around the river so no more naiads would be lost. I took a sample of the water and headed back. I still had no idea what had happened but the sample would help. I would need to call a meeting with the naiads and tell them to avoid the area at all costs. I took the vial of water from Lake Triton and broke it, which immediately sent me back to my closest life source which was at the Bistro in the city center. Yasmine and I had not crossed paths very often, I knew of her but I didn't really know her. All I knew was that she lived in Yatsville and had come here as a traveller with no intention of living in Greco. I knew that she was also a daughter of Athena so she was my half sister, I suppose. I needed to know exactly what happened and if it was in fact a vision. To my surprise, I received a letter from Yasmine asking me to meet her at her home. The very next morning, I leave for Yasmine's Palace. I announce my arrival at the gates and meet with her. She informs me of the events of the previous day. She tells me that her people will come here to kill her and that she is Queen of a place called Pratslinia. She also alludes to the fact that she grew up with our mother for some time. I try to push my jealousy down. Athena has never stayed with any of her children, what made Yasmine and Ender so special? She tells me about the creature at the Bistro when I ask. She informs me that the creature was helping her through the vision. Something is not right here. I couldn't put my finger on it but things just didn't add up. There had been no odd creatures since the destruction of Ps. Why would there be one now and who had created it, or perhaps, it had been roaming Greco in the wake of Ps' death and had just not shown itself. I made a mental note to ask the Emperor about it. Now that I understood that Yasmine was going to be murdered, I owed it to my sister to try and help. She said that it was fine, she had a plan but a back up plan is always good to have also. I gave Yasmine my Raptor's cap so she could disappear if need be. I was surprised when she gifted a beautiful leather bound book to me. She told me it was Athena's book of knowledge. It would answer any question after I answered a riddle. The book would only work for Athena's children. Again, jealousy crept up but again, I pushed it down. This book would be very, very useful. It may even help with the situation with the River. It seemed that, every time I got something crossed off my list, a new task was added. I better get to work. I thanked Yasmine and although I wanted to return to Greco, I knew that this book had to be kept in a safe place so I took it to my cottage on Mount Olympus. I sat at my cherry wood desk and opened the book. Immediately a riddle appeared: Penny has 5 children, 1st is January, 2nd kid February, 3rd is called March, 4th is named April, What is the name of the 5th child. " The answer is What." I asked my question mostly just to see if the book of Wisdom actually worked and if it did, then maybe I could cross one more item off my to do list. It couldn't hurt. " Where is the creature that spoke to Yasmine during her vision?" I guess I was expecting the book to answer clearly and, most likely use words but I guess it wanted to be cryptic. It showed images of the dark, corrupted River that had taken so many naiad recently. I decided to go back to the River and search. I then created a shabti of myself knowing there was no way I was not going to investigate. I grabbed some supplies and stuffed them in a bag which I then stored in the duat for further use, including the one of myself. I did not want some tainted water to destroy me after so many have tried. That would be the worst insult. I teleported back to the River and was surprised when Potatocis joined me but I hide my surprise. He appeared broken and hurt. I did not comment on his appearance. He already knew he was broken and there must have been a reason for his appearance. He had an air of sadness about him. I told him about my meeting with Yasmine and the creature but I withheld the gift of the book of Wisdom. I told Potatocis about the missing naiads, the corrupted River and my intention to investigate. When he heard of the creature, he told me a very important secret. Something that changed my life forever. Potatocis' appearance was concerning, he was burned extensively, battered and broken. He looked tired, sad and ashamed. I waited patiently for him to reveal this secret. He informed me that Ps was not dead but that he was chained in some sort of a prison. This whole time, the people believed he was dead, when in reality, he was being held captive where he could do no harm. I was not so sure that was true, the creature proved that he still had some kind of pull in the Republic, I just did not know what his goal was. Potatocis spoke of the guilt and embarrassment he felt for not being ready to kill Ps because that meant his own death and he did not want to die. He told me that part of Ps was trapped into his body and that he had come from visiting him. Ps had been bidding his time. Apparently, Ps had just escaped his bonds and had left the Republic. Although I was alarmed and confused by the news, I knew that the guilt and shamed weighed heavily on the Emperor. I immediately told him that there must be a way to destroy Ps without Potatocis having to die. I started thinking of ways...then I thought of my old plan, back in the day, I could still do that and possibly save the Emperor also. Potatocis was adamant, he needed to die to kill Ps because part of Ps was inside him...this made things harder but still not impossible. Let's start by killing the creature then take care of the second problem. At the sullied river and Potatocis told me that the problem with the issue may have been a multidimensional portal that is leaking. This seemed odd to me but we needed to figure out where this portal lead to, seeing as water nymphs went missing recently in this Ares, I poured some water from Lake Triton to clear the River long enough to enter it, which we did. Well, technically, I didn't but he did. I had made a shabti ( clay statue that contained all my memories and powers that was activated by divine words. Yes, I used Egyptian magic.) Back in the day, when my alliances were iffy, I had decided to have a back up plan, in case Ps went back on his word so I made a deal with the Egyptian magicians at Brooklyn house. I would teach the initiates battle strategies and they would teach me Egyptian magic. Anyway, I digress. The shatbi went with Potatocis. When we arrived in Erilea, we appeared in a small River. There were no water nymphs that I could sense but we needed to explore. Potatocis sensed that Ps had escaped to this new unexplored world. This created a problem. I was informed that Potatocis had met with Aelin who is a fae and Queen in this world. They had gotten off to quite the rough start.Potatocis wanted toexpand his Empire and include Aelin's world but Aelin was firmly against it. They had words and, long story short, there was no love lost between the two. So here we were, inadvertingly teleported to her world in search of Ps. What to do? Go the diplomatic route and announce our arrival here or just go straight for the threat. The problem was that, if we went the diplomatic route, Ps could do so much damage and odds were in the favur of Potatocis getting kicked out. By this point in my life, I am completely aware that there was no one other than Potatocis who could destroy Ps but Aelin would not believe that so I advised against the diplomatic route because it would be a waste of precious time that we just did not have. '-Mia Pallas' Category:Short Stories Category:Fiction